Heavy Lee in 30-30 M94 Winchester

[Junior1942]

Anybody ever tried the Lee C309-180-R or C309-200-R in a 30-30 Model 94 Winchester? Would work as-is as a 2-shooter I bet. Might could file the tip of the nose off and make a FP, too, and have a 7-shooter. I like the big RCBS 30-180-FN, but I don't like iron molds.

[Denver]

Anybody ever tried the Lee C309-180-R or C309-200-R in a 30-30 Model 94 Winchester? Would work as-is as a 2-shooter I bet. Might could file the tip of the nose off and make a FP, too, and have a 7-shooter. I like the big RCBS 30-180-FN, but I don't like iron molds.

Junior;

I have the Lee C309-200-R mold and have tried it in my Model 94 Win. It's a single shot proposition tho as the boolet seated to the crimp groove makes it nearly a quarter inch over max for the 30-30. To take off enough of the nose so it would work thru the action would leave you with a wadcutter.
Never worked up a load with it for accuracy in the 94. That same boolit in my 308 Model 70 is very accurate over 22 grs of RL-7.

Denver :castmine:

[Four Fingers of Death]

They're good looking moulds aren't they junior? I have a Lee catalogue beside the bed with all of the gun mags. The mould page in that catalogue keeps me out of mischief for hours and hours each year until I get the next one.

[Buckshot]

................I've shot the Lyman 311284 @ 218grs from my 1893 Marlin. It's a single shot and if you've chambered on and decided not to shoot it's a mutha to get it out. You have to reach in past the boltface to release the extractor's hold on the rim so you can tip it out.

Very accurate. Use a full caseload of WC872/860 or 34.0grs of IMR4350.

................Buckshot

[Junior1942]

Thanks for the good info, guys. I wish Lee would double or even triple their mold selection. Guess I'll have to break out the ol' iron RCBS 38-180-FN the next time I plug in the pot.

[Newtire]

I agree on the Lee mold selection needing to be made larger. For one thing, would be nice to get a 2-cavity 150 or 170 gr. I have a 190 flat-nose that looks like a 170 gr. but longer. Now, that would be a great mold but is out-of-round and all wore out. Makes a bullet with a seam on the nose.
Someone loaded that Lee 180 gr. with alot of H-414 and said he had good luck with it. I haven't played with anything slower than 4895 in the 30-30 but am willing to give it a try if it works. I can't find the load he gave but believe it was around 36 gr. I start getting up there and start thinking that I have that nice lightweight .30-06 for the heavier stuff. Still, the 30-30 is great fun. I like it more than anything I have except for just out-and-out plinking. That's why God made the .30 M-1 carbine.
Junior, have you made any headway on that lightweight-bullet 30-30 experimenting you were going to do?

[Junior1942]

Junior, have you made any headway on that lightweight-bullet 30-30 experimenting you were going to do?I've given up on it except for the Lee C309-113-F soupcan at 1700 to 1800 fps. The gas check allows higher pressure than with the 312/309 Meister plain base. I even gave my bud Dennis some of the Meisters and he couldn't get them to shoot in his 30-30 M94 either.

[w30wcf]

Junior,

In a .30-30 case that is 2.030" long, here are the o.a.l. using the Lee 200 gr. bullet:

1.) 2.68" - seated to crimp in the crimping groove
2.) 2.60" - seated to crimp in the crimping groove / .20" meplat (Will feed in my 336's)

3.) 2.62" - seated to crimp over the front driving band
4.) 2.54" - seated to crimp over the front driving band / .20" meplat (Will feed in my 94's)

I use a capacity load of slow burning W760 / H414 under (4.) for 2,080 f.p.s. in a 26" barrel. Even though the gas check is below the base of the case neck, these slow burning powders still produce excellent accuracy.

w30wcf

[Four Fingers of Death]

[QUOTE=Newtire]I agree on the Lee mold selection needing to be made larger. QUOTE]

Try the Cast Bullet Engineering site:

http://www.castbulletengineering.bigpondhosting.com/custom.htm

Jim Allison is situated in Sydney and makes nice moulds from brass and ships world wide.

I looked up his site and he has 21 pages of moulds with between 10-20 moulds on each page and any mould you want he can supply with changes, he states in update No2,

"Remember we cut your mould to order so variations of manyof the designs are possible at no extra cost. If you like the design but prefer a plain base version or a gas check shank, in many cases this is possible."

Jim has been making moulds, top punches and lubesizer dies, inc custom specs on all, for many years and they are good stuff.

If you look on Update No. 9, July 1995 you will see the 458-405 GCFN mould. I have one of these, mate whacko maximo! We Aussies call this the 'don't argue' mould, because the game doesn't argue with it. Years ago we used to have an ad on TV for Hutton's Footy franks (frankfurt/weiners) the ad had two aussie footballers, who at the time wore no protection of any sort, involved in a punch up, the tape went for asecond or two and was reversed repeatedly, to the tune of "don't argue, don't argue, Hutton's footy franks are best." Huttons is an old Aussie company and the ad was funny and became very popular.

Also of interest in:

Update No.13, dated Jan 1999, there is 458-360 Gould's lookalike, also available as a HP (approx 330gn). I will have to get one of these. I believe there was a group buy on this type of boolit recently.

Mick.

[9.3X62AL]

I haven't done much work at all with the 180 grain-plus weights in the 30 calibers. Early on, the #311291 did such good work with so little effort in the 30-30 and a couple 30-06 bolters, I never saw the need to look a lot farther.

About 12 years ago, a buddy brought in a rifle to work that he inherited--a Savage 1899 in 303 Savage in GREAT condition. I knew ZIP about the caliber, but the research that he and I did showed the old 190 grain loads in this caliber took the performance to a higher level. It occurred to me at the time that the 30-30 might benefit in the same way, but never acted on the impulse. Considering the 1-10" twists found in many 30 caliber rifles, I've likely cheated myself out of accuracy and downrange performance by not trying the "heavier for caliber" slugs. The lone venture of this type--the MM Fat Thirty x 190 grains--has done very well when sized to .312" and run through my M-70 in 30-06 with .311" throat, and was the first bullet of any type to show promise in the SMLE.

I might have to give that MMFT 190 a try in the 30-30. You guys (as is often the case) have inspired me!

[Marlin Junky]

You can use Lee 309200 in your M94 with one round loaded in the magazine (perhaps more??) if you buy a Lee Factory Crimp die and seat to 2.57" or so. When crimping on the nose or bore-ride portion, I use a LFC die modified so the collet fingers close farther. The collets are pretty soft and the spaces between the fingers can be opened up with a hack saw blade. Don't over do it though. You only need to take a few thousandths off each side of the collet fingers.

MJ

[Newtire]

[QUOTE=4fingermick[/QUOTE]
Thanks Mick,
There has been such a bunch of moulds & rifles & loading equipment purchased here lately that I wonder at myself. I am going to hold off a bit on the buying right now & shoot what I got. If I see a good deal on a .357 though....

[meldrimgunsmith]

I have a 180 rngascheck bullet I woul dlove to have a working load for my win 94

[jh45gun]

I plan on using my Ideal 311407 sized to 309 in my Model 94. I would guess they will be 180 grains at least using WW.

[Newtire]

I plan on using my Ideal 311407 sized to 309 in my Model 94. I would guess they will be 180 grains at least using WW.
Hi JH,
Guess I may as well tell you my favorite "working load" with that 311407 is either 30.5 gr. H-335 or 33 gr. Win 748. These are full power loads and plenty accurate. I used 28 gr. AA 2520 to fireform cases for my new 30-30 Ackley and they were promising to be accurate.
I use the same loads with the 311041. I size .310", water drop the wheelweights, Felix Lube or LLA and seat the bullets out as far as I can so they still feed and lightly engrave the rifling on closing.

[jh45gun]

Thanks for the load info Newtire